Jimmy Howard will play on Thursday despite leaving Tuesday's game with blurry vision—and not to impugn the Detroit Red Wings' medical staff, but that's scary.

Howard was knocked around in practice, then left after allowing two goals to the Nashville Predators. The second came on a deflection that he clearly didn't see. Nashville wound up winning 4-3 in overtime, with backup Jonas Gustavsson subbing in for Howard.

Marian Hossa practiced two days after taking a blow to the head. (AP Photo)

Detroit ran Howard through a day's worth of tests on Wednesday, and by Thursday, he said he was ready to play against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Again, there's no reason to doubt Detroit's doctors, but given the NHL's ongoing, endless issues with head injuries, situations like Howard's rarely sit right—and won't ever, really. Effects of concussions sometimes take days to reveal themselves, and minor issues can mushroom into major ones if they're not handled correctly—just ask Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer, who had his 2011-12 season derailed by what was initially called a sore neck. Hopefully for Howard, that's not the case here—sometimes a cigar is just cigar, and sometimes blurry vision is just blurry vision.

In a not-unrelated story, Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa was on the ice for practice on Thursday. He took what NHL director of player safety Brendan Shanahan called "a sharp, careless forearm" to the back of the head from Vancouver Canucks winger Jannik Hansen, who was suspended a game for the incident. Hossa, remember, spent time in the hospital because of a severe concussion courtesy of Raffi Torres during last season's playoffs.

Hansen's hit sent Hossa to the ice for several minutes, but he didn't have to make a return trip to the emergency room. He has 14 points in 16 games for the Blackhawks, who can set the record for most consecutive points with a game to start the season on Friday against the San Jose Sharks. Chicago is 13-0-3—and may or may not have Hossa in the lineup.

Hossa told reporters after practice he didn't believe Hansen's explanation (that he was looking for the puck) and that he knew right away that the hit wasn't on par with Torres', which knocked him out.

"Obviously he surprised me and hit me from behind and right in the back of the head," Hossa said. "Right after (it happened), I was still shaky physically. That's why I didn't return. I was still shaky. The day off kind of slowed it down and (Thursday) morning I woke up and felt much better."

Again, there's no real reason to think that the Blackhawks and Red Wings are being anything less than responsible over all of this, but the queasy feeling it prompts is the new normal for hockey fans. Hopefully, that's where it stops.